


adored ones

by CatsGirlsComicsAndThisOddball



Series: adored ones [1]
Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Dora Milaje - Freeform, F/F, Female Character of Color, War Dogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 08:35:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16699042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatsGirlsComicsAndThisOddball/pseuds/CatsGirlsComicsAndThisOddball
Summary: Nakia and Okoye do this.





	adored ones

The universe has a center of gravity made of an unknown amount of dark matter. The only way we know it is there is because it has to be. No human instruments have detected it directly, but we can infer its existence from the behavior of the things around it.

 

The people of Wakanda are strong. Maybe they are stronger than the average human.

 

There’s data, on thrice-encrypted servers in a programming language of unique and ancient origin. Data about enzymes that have a vibranium ion at the core of their active center, data about very specific mutations.

 

Nakia thinks about them as she watches the Dora Milaje fight, limber and graceful, fast and deadly. A flash of red and sharp silver, and Ayo rolls out of the ongoing sparring match.

 

“Greetings, Princess.”

 

“Do you have to do that?” Nakia gestures towards her casual getup in street-wear green.

 

Ayo lifts an eyebrow. “Come to admire our discipline again?”

 

Nakia smiles and rolls her eyes.

 

“To wreck our schedule then. You’re going to owe me and Aneka drinks.”

 

“I am sure you’ll deal.”

 

“Tomorrow night at that place with the imported vodka.”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Nakia!”

 

Aneka’s greeting is a lot friendlier. As the sparring comes to an end, the other Dora approach them, until only the winner of the match remains standing on the training field.

 

“You’ve been growing out your hair again!”

 

“We received your postcard from Seoul.”

 

“How long are you staying this time?”

 

Once you train with the Dora Milaje, a part of you remains with them. Adored ones, in turn they are full of affection for their own. Nakia smiles, answers questions, returns touches and hugs.

 

Nakia’s eyes gravitate inevitably towards the sole figure left on the training field. In a dusty-red, sleeveless shirt, Okoye returns Nakia’s gaze expressionless. She holds her spear loose in her hand, and the skin of her slender-strong arms shines dark and luminous adorned by the sun.

 

“General.” Nakia greets with a smile.

 

“How may I help you, War Dog?”

 

There’s a snort somewhere in the crowd of women that surround them, and Nakia inclines her head.

 

“An old friend of mine has a restaurant in the city. The grand opening is today, and I promised to bring someone.”

 

“Is the Prince preoccupied?” Okoye gives back, easy and dismissive.

 

“I didn’t think to ask him. I doubt he would like Russian-Korean fusion cuisine.” Nakia smiles. “Come on then, you never have lunch before training.”

 

“You heard it, girls, time to hit the showers.” Aneka announces loudly.

 

“Vodka.” Ayo mumbles, then turns to salute Okoye: “General, we will inform the Merchant Tribe delegation of the change in schedule.”

 

A moment later, they’re alone, and Okoye turns on her heel. Nakia falls in step beside her. She doesn’t have to concentrate to keep in pace with the other woman.

 

“It appears I have a disobedience problem in my unit.”

 

“You’re working hard, and they love you.”

 

Adored ones, they can be protective of their own.

 

Okoye sighs, and meets Nakia’s eyes. “Let me just take a shower, and I’ll be with you.”

 

Nakia smiles.

 

The water in Wakanda tastes like nowhere else in the world. War Dogs on missions receive care packages with bottled water from the Mining Tribe’s wells. Vibranium is a trace element that rings through every fountain in Birnin Zana’s vibrant gardens.

 

Nakia savors every pearl of it, as she licks it from Okoye’s skin. Smooth salt, shea butter, steam rises around them. Okoye’s soft gasps mix with the sound of the shower’s steady drops. Her hipbones feel deceptively delicate under Nakia’s thumbs. She holds Okoye’s hips steady. It’s only polite to kneel for your General, after all.

 

Argan trees live up to two hundred years. One and a half mile from the house where Nakia was born, there is a grove of Argan trees that has been cultivated by her tribe for centuries. The oil from their seeds goes to a small Merchant Tribe manufactory in Birnin Zana. They produce the best conditioner and also the best beeswax custard in Wakanda.

 

There has been a jar of each in Okoye’s rooms since Nakia has known her. That's despite the fact that Okoye has maintained a perfectly shaved head since they both graduated from the first stage of the Dora’s training program together.

 

“They call these chiney bumps in Jamaica.” Nakia mumbles, eyes closed. “Or corkscrews.”

 

“My grandmother called them Zulu knots.” Okoye replies. Her fingers tug on Nakia’s hair, pleasant and adept. Her palms never quite touch Nakia’s scalp, but she still feels them, the warmth, the pull and twisting, movements around her. Okoye’s fingertips have touched every part of Nakia.

 

“Nubian knots.” Nakia says. “I heard that one from a friend. Bantu knots is most common though.”

 

“It’s one of the oldest hairstyles in the world. It’s only natural that there are many words for it. Turn around for me.”

 

Nakia does, shifts close and rests the side of her forehead on Okoye’s naked shoulder.

 

“I can’t very well do your hair like this.”

 

“Hmm.”

 

Nakia presses a kiss to Okoye’s collarbone and smiles into her lover’s soft laughter.

 

For what it’s worth, Nakia is objectively the best War Dog Operative that their country has had in several decades. Years of statistics and performance reviews that have been standardized for several centuries don’t yield so easily. The intel that she provided and provides has been and is vital for Wakanda.

 

Simple gold hoops are the only jewelry Okoye puts on for their outing. Nakia could found a religion out of the way they reflect the light onto her cheekbones.

 

“What is that?” Okoye asks and stares at the soup she has been served.

 

“A Kimchi based Soljanka.” Nakia replies and offers her some of her pickled Tofu.

 

“I see. It’s delicious.”

 

“I am glad that you like it.”

 

The restaurant’s noises settle between them, voices, chopsticks and cutlery on porcelain.

 

“Tell me about your time in Korea.”

 

If you don’t count the Black Panther himself, Okoye is undoubtedly Wakanda’s strongest warrior. She excels in combat as well as in the strategies of warfare, and the management of the armed forces. Between them, they carry Wakanda’s security, every part of it that Bast’s Avatar can’t shoulder on his own.

 

Okoye’s back has always been straight, always will be. The entirety of her being is forged of Vibranium. And yet she has secret, soft places. Nakia guards them jealously. In the small hours of the morning, heartbeat to heartbeat, she feels a possessiveness she’s rarely known.

 

“When will you be back?”

 

“I’m not sure how long the mission is going to be.”

 

“No.” Okoye catches her eyes. “When will you be _back_?”

 

Adored ones. They serve Wakanda and the people they love, the best way they know.

 

Nakia breaks her eyes away.

 

“You could say no when I invite you out.”

 

“Go.”

 

Okoye hasn’t ever declined Nakia when she asked her to come with her, and Nakia can’t imagine a world where she will.

 

“Nakia?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Be careful.”

 

“Yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> this fic grew out of the following list of headcanons. 
> 
> okay, okoye/nakia, semi canon-compliant:  
> -there was probably always this maybe-thing between t'challa and nakia, and okoye always felt honor bound not to cockblock her king/best friend (okoye and t'challa are the ultimate brotp fight me)  
> -nakia "comes and goes as she so chooses" so when she's home it's always unannounced and out of the blue.  
> -she crashes into okoye's well organized routine and drags her away to get some sort of new exotic thing to eat from an eatery one of nakia's estimated 10000 retired war dog buddies opened in steppe town  
> -ayo and aneka weep because they have to sort out the general's schedule every time it happens, but also secretly cheer them on  
> -on every normal morning, okoye puts on her armor and quietly hopes that it's one of these days, and smiles.  
> -of course the dora milaje don't keep various running bets, but out of all those betting pools that don't exist, the most secret is the one on the general and her river tribe princess  
> -nakia is reluctant to wear the dora's armor because she doesn't feel she earned it. being a spy is easy, and she fits with the war dogs intuitively. the dora milaje are wakanda's most serious, elite special force, last line of defence, and pride of the nation  
> -okoye, when she eventually learns this (on a not-date where she shows nakia the newborn rhino babies), finds that utterly ridiculous because no one works harder than nakia, to gather intel for wakanda as well as to help innocent people. remember how she smiles at the women that nakia was saving in the beginning of the movie? that.  
> -t'challa, when he finally learns it, proves to be a more underhanded, devious matchmaker than anyone expected. also this mission would probably require the royal siblings working together


End file.
